


Another Barren Land

by the_real_anonymouse66



Category: Homestuck, Vast Error
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Consorts - Freeform, Isolation, Land Lore, Multi, Survival, did it have to be serpaz is what im wondering, ellsee is genderfae, this'll get real dark real fast, thought of this while listening to ellsee's playlist and wondering if this was foreshadowing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28834101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_real_anonymouse66/pseuds/the_real_anonymouse66
Summary: Your name is SERPAZ HELILO.You are now situated in your new land, after a confusing conversation with your denizen.It's a desert as far as the eyes can see.You have nothing on you except your clothes, your hat, and a hole in your heart.What should you do?
Relationships: Laivan Ferroo/Arcjec Voorat (platonic), Laivan Ferroo/Serpaz Helilo, there's not really any romance in this but they exist here
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 💀 < Another Barren Land > 💀  
> (placeholder title)
> 
> swear warning for all past and future chapters  
> blood warning for this chapter

>First, you should probably register your surroundings. This is your _land_ , after all.

Are we kidding you? You've already checked your surroundings! There's nothing but sand, sand, and a few dead bushes. Like that stupid game that Laivan used to show you all the time. It had awful graphics.

... Laivan...

>Maybe you can talk to him now, after all that fuss with the cultists?

You search the pockets of your vest for any communication device, but come up empty-handed, save a few nails that scratch your left hand up pretty bad. _Dammit._

>Well fuck.

Yeah, no kidding.

>Maybe you could walk a little bit? See if there's any other things to explore?

Sure.

You start walking in the direction you were facing when you first got here. If there's going to be anything down here, it's probably in that direction.

You've been walking for what seems like hours, but might be twenty minutes just as well. How do you measure time in an alternate dimension, on a planet that should be vibrant and full of life but instead bland and lifeless? Is this what Laivan has to face as well? Or Arcjec, or Sova, or Calder, or _anyone?_

If it's just you, then why you?

Your train of thought is interrupted when you see a small hut on the horizon. As you inch forward, exhausted (even though it seems to be permanently midnight, keeping your land cool), you find that it's a small hut. Maybe you're not destined for loneliness and starvation on this goddamn planet after all!

You desperately knock on the door. Nothing happens, but you're not in a hurry. Not like there's anything else to do anyway.

But several minutes pass by and nothing happens. You look around. Is this house's inhabitant not home? You cautiously open the door. Inside you find absolutely nothing of use. Nothing. There's a few dusty tables, but otherwise, nothing. As you look around the tiny, run-down room, you slowly come to a realization.

_They're not here._

_Are they... dead?_

_Is everyone here dead?_

You're not sure you want to know.

>Are you sure none of this is salvageable?

Actually, now that you think about it, you could probably make something out of this dusty rotting wood. Maybe you should empty out your sylladex and see what you can do with it...

Your sylladex is empty.

God damn cultists.

>LOL

Hey, what the hell are you looking at?! You're sort of in a weird situation right now!

Oh whatever.

You sit down on the least rotten table, pushing yourself up onto it with your hands and turning around to face the exposed doorway. However, in the process, your left hand catches on a splinter. You let out a shriek and jerk your hand up as pain ripples down your arm. You examine the cuts on your hand that you got from the nails in your pocket-- they had scabbed up since the wound was first cut open, but the splinter had opened up part of one of the long, jagged cuts down your hand again. You sigh and jump off the table. You don't want to risk infecting the wound even more.

Maybe you should find a way to bandage it up somehow. Yeah, that would be a good idea.

>Anything in your vest?

You're an architect, not a seamstress. And you don't think you've bought a first aid kit in your life. Does Corporate even sell those?

>Maybe you could tear off a piece of clothing. Maybe your pants? A section of it, I mean.

Ugh, you would hate to ruin your clothes, but the cut's pretty nasty... And you guess you could make more.

You kneel down and place your hand on your right ankle. The stripes on your leggings are stitched together, so they'll be the easiest to remove. Your leggings are pretty flimsy, honestly, but they're also fairly stretchy. You sigh and begin to rip the bottom of the lowest white stripe.

You remove the lowest two stripes from your leggings and wrap them around your hand, completely covering the deep cut on your palm. It's a precarious process, and you exhale loudly when it's finally done. You're sweating by the time the bleeding has been pressed down, so you take off your hard hat.

For some reason, seeing your hat in your hands makes you think of Lefty and your home. What did they do to her? Will you see your home again? Will you see _Lefty_ again?

You let out a sob, but hold back any more. You can't cry now. You don't have any water on you, and losing a lot would be a bad idea. You need to find supplies quickly.

You stand up shakily and walk out of the little abandoned hut. You've got a game to play, and you can't let anything get in your way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How far would you go to protect someone you love?  
> And what are the consequences of not going far enough?

\--windlessArtificer [WA] began trolling with animatedHumorist [AH] \--

WA: Have you heard from Serpaz-

AH: XDXD Did you actually think she would contact anyone else before you when she got her hands on a communicator? XDXD

WA: Not really- but you never know-

WA: Sova's first on the contacts list for everyone-

AH: XDXD That's your excuse? XDXD

WA: Yeah-

WA: Now that I think about it it's a really crappy one-

AH: XDXD No shit. XDXD

WA: Oh shut up-

AH: XDXD Laivan, it's fine. XDXD

AH: XDXD She might have run into something that stalled her progress a little bit, but she'll catch up with the rest of us. XDXD

WA: A little bit-?

WA: How long has it even been since anyone last heard from her?

WA: I don't think I even want to know-

AH: XDXD It's been twenty-one hours. XDXD

WA: Come on man-

AH: XDXD I said that to annoy you. XDXD

WA: Now's not the time to be annoying!

WA: You don't understand how serious this is!

WA: She could be in danger right now-

WA: ARCJEC, SHE COULD BE DEAD-!

AH: XDXD She's resourceful. Whatever happened, she'll be fine. XDXD

AH: XDXD Look, I get that you want to be a good matesprit, but you've got to just leave the case alone. No one knows what happened to her, but she can handle it. She's no idiot. XDXD

WA: No-

WA: I have to know what happened-

WA: I can't just LEAVE her!

AH: XDXD Yes, you can. Just stop spamming everyone, alright? XDXD

WA: Fine-

You shove your communicator away from yourself. That wasn't any help.

You've been asking everyone constantly. Some of them don't reply-- Ellsee's got her own thing going on, Calder eventually blocked you, Dismas keeps swearing at you every time you message him, and Murrit views his messages but never replies, for some reason-- and the rest haven't been very helpful. Most of them don't act like a jackass about it as much as Arcjec just did, but even then, they try to send the same message: She'll be fine, she'll message you when she gets a communicator, et cetera. It does nothing to calm your mood, though; it only makes you angrier and more nervous for what's happening to Serpaz.

You walk outside to get some fresh, moist air. You haven't done much other than search the firewalls of Skorpe for any sign of your matesprit, but a distraction sounds nice right about now.

The beavers greet you like a celebrity.

LAIVAN: Hi guys-

BEAVER: HELLO!

OTHER BEAVER: we heard you were busy

LAIVAN: Well actually I'm trying to get to someone-

YET ANOTHER BEAVER: to whom?

You think about it for a minute. Do you really want to just go out and try to find her without a clue of what's going on? No, what would be the smarter approach...

LAIVAN: A guy I know-

LAIVAN: I want to talk to him- but uh-

LAIVAN: He's not very responsive-

LAIVAN: Online I mean-

BEAVER: ANOTHER ASPECT HOLDER?

It takes you a second to work out what that means.

LAIVAN: Yeah-

LAIVAN: He's the uh- he's the Time guy-

YET ANOTHER BEAVER: oh good!

YET ANOTHER BEAVER: im afraid you arent able to access one of the aspect holders...

YET ANOTHER BEAVER: but we can help you visit the time guy! theres a bridge.

LAIVAN: Wait-

LAIVAN: What do you mean I can't access one of my friends-

OTHER BEAVER: no one can get to one of the aspect holders

OTHER BEAVER: I think you would call them the "doom guy?"

LAIVAN: The what-

BEAVER: THE ASPECT HOLDER OF DOOM IS STRANDED ON THEIR PLANET!

LAIVAN: Wha-

The realization of what the consort means slowly dawns on you.

LAIVAN: Serpaz?

BEAVER: YES! THE WITCH OF DOOM.

LAIVAN: Oh fuck-

You start to sprint down the sidewalk, but then stop once you realize that you don't know where to find the "bridge". You then turn around to face the overexcited consorts.

LAIVAN: So-

LAIVAN: How do I get to Murrit now?

💀~~💀

You are now Serpaz.

>So what now?

You dunno. You're getting pretty thirsty, so you should probably keep walking to find something.

>Yeah, let's do that.

You start walking.

Surprisingly enough, you find a village within about ten minutes. The hut you just visited was probably a part of this village at some point. You're not close enough to spot any inhabitants, but all that matters is if they had supplies. Have. If they have supplies.

When you get close enough that you should have seen at least one person by now, your mood starts to plummet again. Another abandoned village? Not very helpful. You search the houses anyway.

As it turns out, these houses have supplies in them. You find a cabinet in the third one and frantically open the doors, finding canned food and... yes! Water! You guzzle down half a jar of it. It seems to be well preserved-- it tastes decent, and the lid to the jars are screwed on tight. There are about a dozen jars in here.

You look around the room for a satchel or something of the like. There isn't any sort of bag to put the jars of water in, but you find some ratty clothing. You pick up a weird shirt-looking thing, knot and twist it, and... voilá! A makeshift backpack! 

It doesn't look very sturdy.

You carefully place the jars in one at a time along with some food, shake the backpack a little to test out the strength of the material, and loop the straps over your shoulders. Time to get moving.

You peek in the rest of the houses just to be sure that you have everything you need. You find a little store in the center, and, weirdly enough, there's a paper on a table inside.

>Read it.

_It's odd to know that the Witch will live because of us, but also die because of us. As one of the Aspect Holders, she is bound to her aspect after entering. She must become it in some way or another, because that is what Witches do. And she is destined for greatness, but Doom just as much._

_It's even weirder to know that the Witch will be reading this paper in the near future. I know the evil it will cause, but I must write this before I die, before we all do. It must be done._

_It must be..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was at this moment that i realized that serpaz has a leg brace  
> hopefully i'll remember it next chapter ._.
> 
> ooo foreshadowing oooooo


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> swear warning like always  
> oh boy are you in for a ride today
> 
> if you're a kinnie for anyone in the character list, im apologizing in advance  
> as a laivan kin and ellsee simp this hurt me emotionally
> 
> this was totally out of murrit's character

Your name is ELLSEE RAINES.

You're trying to learn a tricky spell right now.

Could we leave you alone?

No? Alright.

It's a spell that short-circuits objects caught in its beam. Useful if you were in a spy movie, even though you don't really know what that is.

You've been trying to do this spell for quite a few hours now, and it's beginning to frustrate you. What use would this be anyway? 

You hear your communicator buzzing and decide to take a break from uselessness to check it, but it turns out to just be Murrit bugging you. 

_Ugh, leave me alone!_ You block him without reading his messages. You've had enough of him to know it's nothing worth your time.

\-- unclaspedKahuna [UK] began trolling existereOracle [EO] --

UK: >([ellsee.]

UK: >([i know you don't wanna listen to me.]

UK: >([but whatever you do,]

UK: >([don't talk to serpaz.]

UK: >([she's dangerous. don't read her messages, don't reply to them, and please, don't ever do what she asks.]

UK: >([did you just fuckin' block me? oh my god.]

UK: >([no. don't.]

UK: >([ellsee, please.]

Yeah, something tells you it's nothing life-changing.

Just as you begin to set the communicator down, it buzzes again. It's from somebody else. You didn't expect to see them contacting you; it's not someone you're close with. But their message surprises you even more than the person sending it.

Really? How interesting. How _odd._

Honestly, you're sick of people bugging you all the time. You're trying to be productive here, and what do they do? Nothing but troll, troll, troll. God fucking dammit.

You begin to see red (isn't your blood green, though?). You reach for your staff, aim it at your communicator, and close your eyes.

Focus...

You open your eyes. 

Nice! The spell worked!

~🌱🌱~

You are now Laivan.

LAIVAN: This is it-?

BEAVER: YEP!

LAIVAN: Cool-

It's a large archlike structure on all four sides, with an aspect wheel like ones you've seen before hanging above the entrance. The Space and Time symbols, across from each other on the wheel, are highlighted.

LAIVAN: So how do I get there-

OTHER BEAVER: through that

The gigantic beaver points its snout towards the giant white beam you'd previously thought was a tower shooting far up into the sky. You walk throught the arch structure to get a closer look at it. It seems to be a huge beam of pure energy, but it doesn't give off dangerous energy to you. Maybe if you could just reach into it and--

Everything goes black.

When you open your eyes, you're sitting on the floor of a structure so similar to the one you were just in, you almost think you didn't go anywhere. But when you look through the arches, you see a red-orange sky and some sort of deserted modern western town. Lots and lots of buildings. 

_Time to start searching._

Finding Murrit seems to take hours in the blistering heat of LOWAR. You enter a large building. It's dark inside, with just some tech junk scattered around occasionally. You're about to leave when--

MURRIT: >([you shouldn't have come.]

LAIVAN: Murrit- Is that you?

MURRIT: >([i've seen your messages. i know who you're searching for.]

Murrit steps out of the darkness like a cartoon villain. He's not wearing her shades.

MURRIT: >([laivan, don't.]

MURRIT: >([don't bother searching. there's no way you could find her.]

MURRIT: >([even if you did, it would be a lost cause by then.]

LAIVAN: What are you talking about-

LAIVAN: That can't be true-

MURRIT: >([believe me, i wish it wasn't.]

MURRIT: >([but you have to trust me on this one.]

LAIVAN: No-

LAIVAN: I can't-

LAIVAN: I have to find her and tell her-

You let out a sob.

LAIVAN: Tell her I love her-

Murrit is silent.

LAIVAN: Please, let me find her-

LAIVAN: I haven't heard from her in days-

You kneel on the dirty floor, drowning in your own tears.

LAIVAN: I don't care how much danger I put myself in-

LAIVAN: I need to see her-

You look up at Murrit.

MURRIT: >([...alright.]

MURRIT: >([you can try.]

MURRIT: >([when somethin' bad happens, don't say i didn't warn you.]

They turn around and disappear back into the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you like that? hope you did because ive been preparing for this chapter for literally weeks  
> foreshadowing intensifies  
> the foreshadowing never ends  
>  _you can't stop the foreshadowing_


End file.
